Rainerio of Travale

Rainerio (or Renier) of Travale (Italian: Ranieri da Travale,[1] Latin: Rainerius de Traval[2]) was an Italian soldier of the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) who became the chancellor of the Kingdom of Thessalonica.[2]

A native of Travale in Tuscany, he possessed several castles in the region, among them Elci, Giuncarico, Montalbano and Montingegnoli.[2] In Greece, he acquired a fief in the diocese of Kitros.[2][3] With Albertino of Canossa and Pietro Vento, he was part of the council of the regent of Thessalonica, Oberto of Biandrate, that received the ambassadors of the Latin emperor Henry.[2] He participated in the Second Parliament of Ravennika, where he supported Biandrate, and was one of ten barons of Thessalonica who signed the concluding convention of 2 May 1210.[2]

In the aftermath of Henry's invasion of Thessalonica in 1209–1210, Rainerio entered imperial service. He was made administrator of Zetounion and Ravennika, territories taken from the Knights Templar by the emperor.[4] He was back in Italy by 1222, when he gave his castles over to Siena to finance his return to Greece.[2] In return he was made a citizen of the Republic of Siena.[1][2] He probably returned to Greece in the expedition of Demetrius of Thessalonica and William VI of Montferrat in 1225, which ended in failure.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Adams 1787, p. 284.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Longnon 1978, p. 238.
  3. ^ Van Tricht 2011, p. 246.
  4. ^ Van Tricht 2011, p. 169. He appears as such in a document of October 1210 and is probably the unnamed imperial bailiff (balivus imperatoris) in a letter of Pope Innocent III dated July 1210.

Bibliography

  • Adams, John (1787). A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America. Vol. 2. London.
  • Longnon, J. (1978). Les compagnons de Villehardouin: Recherches sur les croisés de la quatrième croisade. Librairie Droz.
  • Van Tricht, Filip (2011). The Latin Renovatio of Byzantium: The Empire of Constantinople (1204–1228). Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-20323-5.